Haman then said to King Achashveirosh, “There is a certain people, scattered and dispersed among the other peoples in all the provinces of your realm, whose laws are different from those of any other people and who do not obey the king’s laws; and it is not in Your Majesty’s interest to tolerate them. If it please Your Majesty, let an edict be drawn for their destruction, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the stewards for deposit in the royal treasury.” (Esther 3:8-9)
We read in the Megillah (Esther 3:9) that Haman offered to pay Achashveirosh 10,000 kikar of silver in exchange for the right to get rid of the Jews. Tosfos in Megillah (16a) indicates that this was a half shekel for every Jewish person. The simple analysis of Haman’s offer is that Haman was afraid that Achashveirosh would object to the loss of Jewish tax revenue if he killed them all. To pre-empt that financial objection, Haman was ready to sweeten the deal for the King by making an offer of 10,000 kikar of silver.
Chazal tell us however that Haman was trying to negate the merit of the Jews annual machatzis hashekel contribution towards the upkeep of the Beis HaMikdosh. The Gemara in Megillah (13b) writes: Since Hashem knew that Haman would offer shekels to Achashveirosh to ‘purchase’ the right to destroy the Jews, Hashem pre-empted Haman’s contribution through the machatzis hashekel. The merit of the Jews contributing the annual machatzis hashekel protected them (in the future) against Haman’s evil desires.
The Yismach Yisroel offers a wonderful peshat in the above Gemara. Haman’s potential for destroying the Jewish people was hinted at in his own description of the nation: ישנו עם אחד מפוזר ומפורד – “There is a people that is dispersed and divided...” (Esther 3:8). It is only because there is division and unjustified hatred within the Jewish nation that their enemies have the ability to harm them. When the Jews are divided, they represent only individuals — not a klal [a communal entity]. When that happens, we have lost our strength.
Haman’s whole plot was based on the division of the nation. That is why Hashem insisted that each Jew should give exactly one half shekel. The symbolism of the half shekel is that each Jew is only a fraction of the entity. He needs to combine with his fellow Jew to make a significant contribution. If we think we can be ‘an entire shekel unto ourselves’ that is not going to work. Our strength is through the recognition that we need each other, and the realization that we need to set aside our petty differences to come together to provide a complete shekel.
This is the strength that ultimately saved the Jewish people. Because of the terrible calamity that was hanging over them as a result of Haman’s decree, they decided to put away those ‘dispersions and divisions in the nation’ and came together as a unit and as a whole.
